Snippets From Combat Zone – The Sri Lanka Experience

The idea of this series of short anecdotes is to find humour in situations of life and death, in hindsight, while taking the readers through series of episodes which make a life of an old soldier interesting, if he is lucky to be alive till then. Happy reading.

Induction To A Combat Zone

On 07 Nov 1987, our battalion was tasked to capture Point Pedro on the North Eastern tip of the Jaffna peninsula. We were to be airlifted in helicopters from our base in Jaffna Town. We concentrated at the Navatkuli from Jaffna Residency and the Jetty area the night prior, and early on the 7th we were to be airlifted by MI-17s to a place called Kerravedi East, which was held by a company of 8 Mahar who were waiting to be de-inducted to join their Battalion.

As a Captain with a service of eight and a half years, I was tasked to lead the first wave, which comprised of our Mortar Platoon along with a Platoon of Bravo Company. The other Sub Units would be inducted in subsequent sorties. Our sortie commenced in the morning at about 0700 hours. The flying time to our landing zone was about 20-25 mins. As the first wave of three helicopters arrived, we loaded our mortars, the ammunition and the camouflage nets. Since the Mortar Platoon along with their battle load, filled up the entire space in the aircraft, it was decided that I would go in the second wave. The choppers took off and returned to Navatkuli to carry the second wave at about 0815 h after off-loading the Mortar Platoon. As the three helicopters came in to land, the down draft of the rotors caused a mini storm. This caused a few CGI sheets lying around the periphery of the helipad to take off and assume a crazy trajectory of their own. One of these sheets headed straight towards us standing on the side. We somehow managed to duck and avoid getting hit. However, a young Second Lieutenant of my unit wasn’t fast enough and got hit, sustaining a deep gash near his right eye which started bleeding profusely. He was immediately evacuated for medical intervention due to which, our sortie got delayed by about 30 minutes. By this time the weather started deteriorating. However, as a part of our mortar platoon was already at Kerravedi East, we had to press on. Our sortie, with my platoon and the remaining mortar personnel, took off at about 0915, in worsening weather. I was also tasked to look after the Mortar Platoon, get the Mortars deployed and ready to fire. By the time we were about ten minutes flying distance from our destination, it started to drizzle. We reached Kerravedi by about 0950h and to my horror we were told to dismount with our stuff on a thin strip of sand in the middle of a lagoon. We unloaded our stuff and the choppers took off to ferry the next sortie. I waded through the water and reached a clearing in a small patch of jungle on the edge of the lagoon with a big circular dome which served as the antenna for Troposcatter communication. By now the drizzle became stronger in intensity. I immediately asked the men to pick up the stuff and carry it to the jungle patch. Meanwhile the Mortar Position Commander (MPC) had started to deploy the mortars for action and get the ‘ bedding in’ done. Bedding In is the process whereby, bombs are fired at maximum charge and elevation to enable the Base Plates of the Mortars to settle firmly in the earth. As the other side of the jungle had built up area, the logical place to point the mortars was towards the lagoon from where we were fetching our stuff. Meanwhile, the drizzle had intensified into a downpour. With nothing much to do, I decided to watch the Mortar Platoon getting ready for action. After the weapons got deployed, the MPC, who was also officiating as the Mortar Platoon Commander, decided to get the ‘bedding in’ done. All this while, men from platoon were fetching the loads from the adhoc heli- landing site. As the MPC gave the order to fire, bombs were loaded in the mortar tubes unmindful of the heavy downpour. Two bombs were launched successfully, whereas, the tail unit of the third bomb, broke away as the bomb exited the mortar tube. I could hear the strange cooing sound and see the mortar bomb ascending to about 50 metres and thereafter, descending in the direction of the heli landing strip, from where my men were still ferrying their loads. To my horror, about 50 metres from me, I saw one of my soldiers carrying a huge camouflage net approaching towards me, in the path of the descending rogue mortar bomb! The bomb, with a killing radius of eight meters, and a much larger danger area, fell about a couple of metres to the right of the soldier and exploded! With trepidation and shock, I saw my man fall to the ground along with the camouflage net and I feared that I had suffered my first casualty in Kerravedi East, even before the commencement of the impending battle. I ran toward the site, expecting the worst, but to my amazement, I saw the camouflage net move and the boy emerged from the net and ran towards me. He was thoroughly shaken after his, near death experience, though miraculously (and thankfully), unharmed. It emerged that the soft soil of the lagoon strip, further moistened due to the downpour caused the bomb to sink to a depth of about two feet into the wet sand before exploding. That is what prevented my soldier from being blown to bits. Meanwhile, I heard shouting from the other side of the jungle where the Company of 8 MAHAR was deployed. One of the other bombs had landed just 25 metres ahead of the Mahar perimeter defences and barely missed taking out their platoon. I immediately stopped my MPC from further adventures and told him to just stay put till the arrival of the rest of our Battalion. I was then informed by my radio operator, that, due to inclement weather the remaining sorties were postponed and would recommence only after the weather conditions improved.

So, there I was, in the middle of a jungle in a lagoon with mortars which were not bedded in, my men ferrying the stores from the heli landing strip and no idea as to what was to do next. I decided to call a halt to all activities of my personnel till the rain subsided and went to meet the Mahar Officers for a much needed, cup of tea and pow wow.

How we concentrated at Kerravedi East and moved to Point Pedro is another story with more twists and turns. I will take that up tomorrow. Till then enjoy.